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Rising contemporary modern southern rockers Revenant are excited to release the hard and brutally honest introspective new single and video ‘Black Dogs and Sad Men’. The song is the title track of their highly anticipated new EP to be released October 10 on CD and all good digital platforms. Get to know the 4-piece from Newbury/Basingstoke, UK, consisting of Sam Lay (vocals, guitar), Matt Hudson (guitar), Robin Nutley (bass), and Carl Donoghue (drums), below:
What are the origins of Revenant? How long have you been playing together?
We started almost as a passion project. Matt and Sam were in a previous group, which fizzled out for the good old creative differences. They were a powerful guitar duo, but Sam’s secret weapon was his voice. After some convincing, his voice was called to action, but they needed the rest of a group. Sam reached out to Carl to ask if he knew any drummers, and the answer was “Yeah alright, I’ll do it.”. Robin had played alongside one of Matt’s previous bands before, and Matt told him just to be in the band because he knew he could play, and more crucially, he looked the part. Since then, it’s been all systems go, and we just reached the 2-year mark to the day very recently!
What should people expect when they check the band out? How would you describe Revenant?
Loud guitars, pounding drums, rattling bass, and a voice that hits you like a freight train. We write songs about life and our experiences, and we do our best to present them in a way that our audience can connect with.
How did you feel performing your first gig as a band, and how was it?
It’s a funny story! Our first gig was a biker rally, outdoors under a gazebo in the glorious sunshine, a small affair, but we were very excited to get the ball rolling. We came out strong with ‘Coming Back To Life’, but something wasn’t quite right. The first note rung out and there was something amiss, we were all looking around to see what it was, and it turned out that between the sun, the gazebo, and Robin’s choice of sunglasses, he had missed the little dot on his tuner that told him that he was in D# and not D! He got it back on track and the rest of the gig flew by and we knew we had something special.
The new EP ‘Black Dogs and Sad Men’ is almost upon us. What was the gestation period like for the EP? How quickly did the songs come together?
We’ve actually been playing most of these songs for a good chunk of the year. We tend to hit the ground running in our writing process. When someone brings something in that we all get a taste for, it gets hammered on and smashed out pretty quickly.
The EP title suggests a mental health connection; was that the case when you were putting the EP together?
Absolutely, yeah, everything we write comes from within, either directly from our experiences or someone we know. We’ve all had individual struggles, and it’s a subject that’s very important to us; we’ve all been sad men, and we’ve all had black dogs barking at our door. It’s a relatable topic and one that can be quite tough to talk about. We’re hoping that we can offer a beacon of hope, or at the very least give some catharsis.
‘Lie You’re Living’ is an urgent, immediate opening track; was it always going to open the EP? And what issues does the track deal with?
We always like to come out the gate swinging hard and fast, and Lie You’re Living is a great choice for that; it absolutely felt right for our EP opener. The song deals with themes to match its urgency; it’s about fake people and telling them that you’re done with their games and you will not be taking it anymore.
In what ways do you feel that the band has grown since the debut EP ‘What A Time To Be Alive’ was released in 2024?
Oh, absolutely, it’s been a very fast and steep climb, and we’re super proud and humbled by what we’ve been able to achieve, but that doesn’t come without its fair share of lessons.
Earlier this year, Revenant performed at Maid Of Stone Festival, on the same day as acts such as Black Stone Cherry, and Ugly Kid Joe – were you able to stop and take it all in, or did the day pass by in a flash?
A bit of both, really! We always love to get going and get on stage. We can get quite itchy and restless when we’re waiting to go on, but the crew backstage kept us happy when we were playing and busy when we needed to be. Shows like that can sometimes feel like your set will never be long enough, but at the same time, the space between your songs seems to last forever.
With regards to a similar audience, which band at the moment do you feel that Revenant would be best suited to open for?
We’ve got a bit of everything going, so I think we can be quite flexible, in terms of people we’d absolutely love to open for, it would be people like Dirty Honey, Black Stone Cherry, bands in that sort of vein.
Excluding yourself, which new band would you like to see break out and become a success?
Tricky one because we all know people in up and coming bands, Robin would give a shout to his friends in Adders for sure but to give an answer away from personal connections, we’ve done a few gigs now with We Three Kings and they always give a killer performance and they’re stand up guys to boot along with our buddies and O’Neill PR stablemates AK & The Red Kites.
What frustrates you about the music business?
I don’t imagine we’re the only ones that feel this way, but we’ve talked as a group about it before; it’s not just about recording, playing gigs, and doing the classic press bits anymore. You’ve got to not only do all of the above, but you’ve got to make a near constant stream of content for socials as well. We don’t mind that to a certain extent, don’t get us wrong, but it can be hard to manage it alongside the music and a full-time work life.
What are your first musical memories? And what was your lightbulb moment that made you say, “I want to do that”?
We’ve all got different origins. Sam is a big, big fan of players like Bonamassa and Slash, whereas Matt is really big into Metallica, and he often says Live and Dangerous by Thin Lizzy was a huge spotlight on playing the guitar for him. Robin started on guitar, listening to AC/DC and Dire Straits, and only picked up bass in college. Then Carl is the mysterious dark horse who would love to tell you, but then he’d have to kill you. A man of many facets.
What was the last gig that you attended as a fan?
Matt and Robin went to see Florence Black! We’ve played a couple of festivals with them in the past, and they’ve collectively been a treasured discovery.
What current social issues are you particularly passionate about?
There’s a lot of debate and dispute about people being allowed to be themselves, be it culturally, religiously, sexually, etc. It would be nice if people could just be people without fear of it being an issue.
The album that you have in your album collection/Spotify playlist that would surprise most people?
We all listen to quite dramatically different things, but Robin is always trying to sell the rest of the boys on Masayoshi Takanaka, a jazz guitarist from the 70s, that’s gonna be one of the more colourful choices.
Everybody is a fan of something. Who or what are you a fan of?
Tricky to pick just one, but three of the four of us have dogs, and they are all faithful hounds to the last. Sam does look after Matt’s dog occasionally, so we’re pretty big animal fans.
What new music have you been enjoying so far this year?
Funny enough, I think Florence Black has to be on that list for the band as a whole. It was last year we discovered them, but we have been growing fans as the months pass. Aside from that, the recent Tyler Childers album was great fun.
What does the next 6 months hold for Revenant?
We are busy, busy, busy. We’ve got a myriad of shows coming up for the rest of the year, up and down the country, from Southampton to Sheffield, to Wolverhampton, and our first ever London gig! Then at the turn of the new year, we are on tour with the mighty Preacher Stone, the tour takes place end of January into early February with dates in every corner of the land, so check the website and grab you and your mates tickets to your local shindig!
How active are you on social media, and where can people connect with you?
We try to stay pretty active on the socials, it’s all part of the game, best place to keep up with show dates and where to buy tickets is www.revenantsongs.co.uk. We’ve got a fan club on there as well, which will bag you a free live acoustic EP by signing up, and you can check us out on;
Facebook – www.facebook.com/revenantsongs
Instagram – www.instagram.com/rvnt.band
TikTok – www.tiktok.com/@revenant.band
YouTube – www.youtube.com/@Revenantuk
The ‘Black Dogs and Sad Men’ EP is also combined with their acclaimed previous release ‘Best Medicine’ in a strictly limited edition to 100 copies coloured vinyl run bearing the moniker ‘Black Dogs and Best Medicine’, available for pre-order now direct from the band HERE.
Photo credits – Rob Blackham
